2024 Summer School

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst hosted its third annual summer school on Physical Mathematics of Quantum Field Theory during the week of June 10 - 14, 2024. The aim of the workshop is to introduce young researchers on the boundary between mathematics and physics to recent ideas in classical and quantum field theory using notions from complex geometry and algebraic topology. There was a loose focus on 2d CFT, the B-model, and its connections with algebraic geometry. (Lecture notes are linked below in blue.)

SPEAKERS:

• Paul Aspinwall (Duke University) - An Introduction to Conformal Field Theory and N=2 Superconformal Field Theories

• Johanna Knapp (University of Melbourne) - The Physical Mathematics of Gauged Linear Sigma Models (and Knapp's notes prepared ahead of time)

• Ed Segal (University College London) - Derived categories, B-branes, and GLSMs

• Rachel Webb (Cornell University) - GIT, Stacks, and Quasimap Theory

ORGANIZERS: Chris Elliott, Owen Gwilliam, and Samantha Kirk